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Last month, the Crowsnest Promoter printed a letter to the editor by Cory Schultz titled Onward and forward that dealt with the Crowsnest Centre. It clearly showed how badly the Centre Board had managed things, including suggested acts of subversion or incompetence. The Pass Herald refused to publish this letter in their paper.
Last week, I sent a letter to the editor titled Who's 'dysfunctional' now? to both the Crowsnest Promoter and the Pass Herald. The Promoter published it, while the Herald did not.
The above two recent examples are just the tip of the ice-berg of censorship by a media source that on the one hand pushes their own political agenda, while at the same time censoring the opposition. How much longer is this community going to put up with this double standard? How much longer are we going to allow individuals to use their paper as a divisive propaganda tool, and in doing so, continue to hold back and hurt this community?
Media are suppose to provide a service to a community... not a disservice.
It is well-known that the mass media form for us our image of the world and then tell us what to think about that image. The elite here have been successful in using certain media to suppress critical thinking as a pragmatic necessity towards holding onto their power. The people in this community need to wake up to this fact.
For a long time now, we have obviously not been well served by at least one media source. Maybe it is time to do something about it? Let them know that censorship will not be tolerated and we want them to change. If they will not, then...
UPDATE: Two new polls now available (on left panel). Rate our local media and let them know what you think of them?
Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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15 comments:
Newspapers have the right to publish whatever Letters they want to. At least one of them printed your letter & surely many will read it. Some people submit their letters to multiple newspapers & only one or two of them will publish it - or none. I really don't see a big problem here. That's how democracy works. You sound offended & frankly a bit over the top about just 1 paper publishing it. At least it got published somewhere. :)
penlan,
I take no exception and in fact agree with everything you say. However, your being from Ontario and therefore not knowing our local political scene and the dismal track record of biased journalism of one of our papers; I can understand why you would not pick up on the obvious here. In other words, there is more to the eye than what an outsider can see or know, but thanks for your interest and comment anyways penlan.
WOW! I’ve got a golden eagle hovering outside my front window with Turtle Mountain as a backdrop. Beautiful site!!! Gotta love the ‘beautiful’ Crowsnest!
Have to agree with you on this one, John. One of our papers does a pretty decent job reporting on the issues we're currently facing (i.e. Crowsnest Centre, Corporate Review ... etc.), while the other does a good job providing their "biased" point of view. Are they that naive to think CNP residents only read their newspaper? It's a good thing this community has two rags to read each week.
What always amazes me is when I read something in the paper regarding a meeting I was at, then after reading the article the spin that was put on the issue was totally different than the intent of the position that was presented.
How about political favourtism, pick up any paper and count the number of times any given councilors name is mentioned.
Or go back over a three or four month period and count the number of times a Councilor is cast in a postive light versus a negative.
When I first got on Council I asked members of the local media why they never reported about a member of Council falling asleep on a regular basis, or a member of Council that would go on a 30 minute tirade on a regular basis. I never did get a real answer.
I would bet my house that if I fell asleep next week, or spun out for half a hour it would be front page news.
Anyway maybe its just me
I added a few comments on my Blog regarding this issue, http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Dean Ward
Dean,
If you fell asleep or went on a tirade at a council meeting, it would most certainly make front page headlines in one of our papers. Care to guess which one that might be?
Anon @ 10:59
Good summary, along with fair comment. Thanks!
Dean,
I can relate to how unfair and hurtful biased journalism can be at times. Unfortunately, for all of us who are or have been in public life, who dares to stand up against this mayor and the establishment, it is a fait accompli, their 'yellow journalistic dogs of war' are set upon thee. Some of us know what you are going through and sympathize. Stay strong!
Things need to change here and biased journalism is one of them. Will say more on your blog. Thanks for sharing!
Come on, Prince Johnny! Which paper are you going to read for news!? The Promoter, or the Pass-The-Herald-The-Birdcage-Needs-To-Be-Cleaned-Out??!
I read one for news, the other for comedy. Neither fail to fulfill their real purpose.
John, I totally agree with your comments on bias. I read the corporate review before it was reported in the papers. I then read the Herald's article and wondered if they read the whole report. The Herald didn't get past the 4-3 non-issue. The Promoter's article was definitely more balanced. Having come from "the big city" and being one who still reads a national paper and several big city papers on a daily basis, I am disappointed with our local papers. Case in point -- coverage of the River Run scandal. If something like this were to happen in Calgary or Edmonton, the papers would be all over it, and we would be getting answers. Although the Promoter has done a better job on this file, we're still not getting anything that I could refer to as "investigative reporting." And that's too bad, because if we were getting the information we need, it would put more pressure on Council and the Mayor to "clean up" the mess.
Terry
Anon @ 8:20
Love your sense of humour :-) and punch line. How true it is. In my opinion, we got the bar set to low in this community, when it comes to what we expect and demand from our local media.
Terry,
Good points and terrific summary of how things played out. I too wish our local media would uncover what is going on here (like Bridgegate), rather than looking like co-conspirators in what appears to be major cover-ups.
The fact mayor and council are so silent on everything makes me want to take the whole bunch of these smug buggers and turf them out the door. The longer they continue keeping us in the dark the more certain people are going to be that they are not honest and forthright in their dealings with us, justifying their conviction to throw them all out, the next time around. And unless things change soon... they'll be right in doing so.
John,
I'm at the point myself, where I think there should be a complete change come next election. Spare nobody. On the other hand, there may be one or two on council who can still help to turn things around. We just want to make sure we don't follow the old German proverb, "Das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten." English translation, "Throw the baby out with the bath water." The only question is who deserves to stay? They have less than a year to show us. We want some action now, not words or campaign promises of how things will be better next time, if they're elected.
Anon @9:45
Everyone on that council is a good man. Leadership is where the problem is. Change that and you change everything.
John,
You may be right that "everyone on council is a good man," but I'm not convinced ... sorry. However, I do agree with your "leadership" comment. On another note, perhaps next time we'll have a few of the opposite gender sitting at the table.
Anon @9:38
I hope so, as we have not had a female councillor since back when I was on council. We need that balance. I know for a fact, we have some good women in our community, if given the chance, would do an outstanding job. We all need to encourage those we know to step up to the plate... and then, support them in their effort with our vote.
Maybe, you are one of them? If so, I encourage you and others to step forward, make yourselves known, and go for it!
John that's not true from 2004 to 2007 we had Jackie Woodman and Gayle Sygutek on Council.
Jackie was very professional and did a good job of representing the taxpayers.
Deam
Dean, That's true, I forgot about them. Thanks for correcting me... but don't make it a habit, hey. :-)
p.s. You sat with Gail for three years and you can't spell her name? I guess she didn't leave much of a lasting impression with you? lol!
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